Research

UBC team discovers ‘silver bullet’ to keep medical devices free of bacteria

UBC team discovers ‘silver bullet’ to keep medical devices free of bacteria

University of British Columbia researchers have found a ‘silver bullet’ to kill bacteria and keep them from infecting patients who have medical devices implanted.

Bio photo of Alexandra Witt, the winner of the Lay Science Writing Competition "Science behind the scenes", with her entry "What does it take to make a life-saving drug?"

Lay Science Writing Competition Winner: What does it take to make a life-saving drug?

Read the entry that was awarded first place in this year’s “Science behind the scenes” Lay Science Writing Competition! Alexandra Witt identified high school students as her target audience and wrote an engaging piece that sheds light on the questions scientists ask when developing a new drug.

Structure of proximity ligation assay (PLA) using paired antibodies (in yellow) on A7/TF + CD248 cells with mixed pairings of FX and FVIIa (in white).

It takes two to tango: Tissue factor and CD248

What is the relationship between tissue factor and CD248? The Conway and Pryzdial labs looked at how these two proteins interact to influence blood clotting.

A novel antibiotic-host defense peptide conjugate with multiple talents

A novel antibiotic-host defense peptide conjugate with multiple talents

Etayash and colleagues identified a novel vancomycin-innate defence regulator conjugate (V-IDR1018) as a promising candidate for the treatment of bacterial infections.

Bags of blood on a white background. Blood types seem to be A, B and O.

Revisiting cold-stored platelets: An effort to improve patient care and storage feasibility

Wayne Zhao of the Devine Lab shares his work on platelet storage conditions, and whether we should consider revisiting cold-stored platelets.

Glass vials with blood. Image Courtesy of UBC Science. Illustrates the idea of creating universal blood-type organs for transplant.

Creating universal blood-type organs for transplant

Dr. Jayachandran Kizhakkedathu’s team and collaborators are creating universal blood-type organs for transplant.

Blood vacutainer tubes on the left, white text on a dark red background on the right that reads: "Sepsis: The End is Just the Beginning"

Sepsis: The end is just the beginning

Andy An explains the critical need to study sepsis and post-sepsis syndrome, and how COVID-19 has brought new attention to both.

UBC researchers lead $24 million project to treat spinal cord injury

UBC researchers lead $24 million project to treat spinal cord injury

Dr. Karen Cheung is part of the Mend the Gap project, which will develop soft gels to help regrow nerve fibres in an injured spinal cord.

Ambulance with sirens flashing driving quickly past what looks like a hospital setting.

Machine learning and AI used to rapidly detect sepsis, cutting risk of death dramatically

A groundbreaking advance in quickly detecting sepsis using machine learning has been pioneered by researchers in the Hancock Lab.

Pills and medication

UBC researchers train computers to predict the next designer drugs

Research from Dr. Michael Skinnider and Dr. Leonard Foster have trained computers to predict the next designer drugs before they are even on the market, technology that could save lives.